It’s been 11 years at MonsterVine and I’ve had the privilege of being here for ten of those. That’s quite a lot of games to play in that time so distilling even just each year to a single game was tough, but I persevered. I’m also going to go ahead and say I’ve got the best list on the staff without even reading anyone else’s. (editor’s note: Spencer’s list is objectively better. -SL)
2008
I love me some good Carpenter so you know I had to give it up to Dead Space for this one. Splicing together “The Thing” and “Alien” was everything I wanted; adding in the inventive dismemberment system to constantly keep you on your toes when dealing with each new monstrosity was just the cherry on top.
Runner-up: Metal Gear Solid 4: I really love DMC4 but that finale to MGS4 is just too perfect of a cap to the series to ignore. MGS4 admittedly has its rough spots, but as the (proper) conclusion to the series, it’s filled with all the fanservice you would want out of that. And that’s ignoring the fantastic Metal Gear Online, of which I easily sunk dozens of hours into.
2009
Picking a game for 2009 was a tough one, but ultimately I had to go with my immediate gut pick which was Halo 3: ODST. Taking the focus away from Master Chief and whatever fight he was finishing, ODST gave us a look at how the non-genetically enhanced super-soldiers were experiencing the war with the Covenant and boy did it not disappoint. The city of New Mombasa was moody, quiet, and most importantly dangerous as a series known for its action leans more in a horror angle as you creep through alleys, watching patrols and deciding which fights you could take and which you needed to slip past. All of this complimented with a stupendous jazz soundtrack
Runner-up: Killzone 2: It was a hard toss-up between Infamous and Killzone 2, but the latter won out in the end. I just absolutely loved the story this game told, and it’s probably the best at showing the “your side is just as bad as the baddies” trope while under the guise of “hoo-rah patriotism”. And that multiplayer. Good god was that multiplayer great.
2010
I’m a spooky boy so Alan Wake is easily going to take the cake for me here. But I’m also going to talk about Undead Nightmare as well because they both nailed the angle of horror they were going for with an envious ease. From the Stephen King and Lynchy vibes of Alan Wake’s fully realized Hope Springs, to the complete transformation of the western world you explored in Red Dead Redemption to its zombie-filled landscape; both games took you on roller-coaster of scares and have some of the best moments I’ve yet to see topped in the genre.
Runner-up: Vanquish: I’m a simple man. I like it when games let me shoot things and shoot them while moving very fast.
2011
This was a pretty hard year for me to pick because so many games came out that spoke very much to my tastes. Games like Binding of Isaac completely devoured my free-time, Dead Space 2 did to the first game what Aliens and Terminator 2 did for their first films, Mikami took us on a heavy metal ride with Shadows of the Damned, and The Witcher 2 completely changed the RPG landscape. And of course, the timeless question of “When’s mahvel?” was finally answered. It was now and it was glorious.
2012
Excuse me, pardon me, please make way for the best kart racer of all time please. Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed took a genre that’s been dominated for years by Mario Kart and effortlessly snatched the crown off its head. Mixing aerial, aquatic, and land vehicles together into these changing courses added a level of flair and variety that was desperately needed in the genre.
Runner-up: Sleeping Dogs: Where’s my Sleeping Dogs 2? It’s been nearly eight years Square-Enix, what the fuck?
2013
C’mon baby, you thought it’d be something other than Metal Gear Rising? 2013 had some neat games, but nothing came close to the insanity that Platinum Games delivered hot and fresh from the oven with this game. It saw the signature action combat they’re known for, thrown into the wildly ludicrous Metal Gear universe with delicious results. With some of the most entertaining boss battles in the genre, and a breakneck pacing that’s filled with nonstop set-pieces, Metal Gear Rising showed you can make a wildly different spin-off that succeeds in honoring the franchise and carving its own identity.
Runner-up: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger: Gunslinger injected a much needed dose of spaghetti fun into the franchise
2014
The isometric turn-based RPG scene had been feeling a bit stale for me in the past few years, so Divinity: Original Sin completely took my life over when it dropped. In it I got a gorgeous, fully realized world that not only had an interesting plot but was also genuinely funny, which you don’t see very often in games. The game’s added creativity of wanting you to mix different spells with an interactive environment added a level of spice that actually had me seeking combat encounters for once. And because the game was following a strict rule-set, finding ways to break the game (something you were heavily encouraged to do) led to some of the most satisfying moments in gaming.
Runner-up: Wolfenstein: It’s not easy taking a retro shooter and transitioning it to modern gaming, but MachineGames managed to do it with a deliciously gleeful game that leaned completely into the exploitation genre, offering that power fantasy of just mowing down Nazis.
2015
I’ve said this multiple times before, but The Witcher 3 has completely ruined other open-world RPGs for me. CD Projekt RED made one of, if not the, most realized worlds in the genre and made it so you never feel like you’re wasting your time in any one part of the map. There’s always something for you there, and good god was the quest design on another level. Each side-quest, no matter how mundane or out of the way, had a completely unique story to it and accompanying a set of fully voiced dialog. The amount of work to pull this off must have been gargantuan but it paid off in strides.
Runner-up: Bloodborne: I love me some Dark Souls, but Bloodborne felt like it was made exactly for me. The faster, more aggressive approach to combat, and the horror angle that transitioned from Castlevania vibes of werewolves and monsters to pure cosmic horror Lovecraft.
2016
I think what makes The Witness so special to me was how I played it. A few friends and I opted to get the game at the same time to play along together; giving constant updates on our discoveries or to offer advice on challenging puzzles; even at times playing at the same time while chatting over Discord and talking about what part of the island we’re each on. In essence, almost turning what’s essentially a single-player game into a multiplayer one. It’s easily my favorite puzzle game of all time, with some of the smartest realization creep I’ve ever seen done in a game as you slowly piece together the pieces of the game’s logic and getting that “ah ha!” moment.
Runner-up: Hitman: The Hitman franchise is one that’s near and dear to my heart, so seeing how IO managed to recapture the essence of the series after the disastrous Hitman: Absolution was something I thought I’d never see. DOOM was also very, very good.
2017
My brain and heart tell me to say Divinity: Original Sin 2 deserves this spot, but I’ve spoken so much of that near-perfect game in the last few years I felt like I should mention a game that I still don’t see getting brought up as often as it should. Doki Doki Literature Club is a visual novel, but it’s more than that. It’s a complete trip of a game that kept me playing till 4 in the morning to make sure I had scrapped every surface of this devious game. It’s free on Steam and I wholly recommend just putting it on without looking up any sort of context.
Runner-up: Resident Evil 7: Capcom actually did it. The mad lads managed to recapture that old school horror vibe while moving the series into the first-person genre. The game was both grander in scope, while lower at the same and took a series many considered dead in the water back to the forefront of the conversation.
2018
If your favorite game of 2018 isn’t DUSK then that means you just haven’t gotten around to playing the best retro-shooter of all time.
Runner-up: DUSK: If your runner up for favorite game of 2018 isn’t also DUSK then I guess you really need to get around to playing DUSK huh? You don’t have bad taste in video-games right?
